William Penn Life, 1999 (34. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
1999-06-01 / 6. szám
Hungarians in Yugoslavia Will Vojvodina be another Koz ? T hey were once a majority in this region of Yugoslavia. But, following the Croatian and Bosnian wars, thousands upon thousands of them were "encouraged” by their Serbian neighbors to leave. Many of those who left Yugoslavia say they were forced out at gunpoint, while others say they left after being subjected to beatings and intimidation. This could be the story of Kosovo and its Albanian population. But it's not. This is the situation in Vojvodina, a province located in northern Yugoslavia, and those being "encouraged” to leave are Hungarians. Since the fall of Communism and the dissolution of the old Yugoslavia, much attention has been focused on the plight of the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. But, as the following story from Reuter’s shows, there is another ethnic group facing pressure from the Serbs. And, it's not a new problem: the dangers faced by the Albanians in Kosovo and the Hungarians in Vojvodina were apparent nine years ago. Read the excerpts from a story we ran in March 1990, and you might think they were written nine weeks ago, rather than nine years ago.... "[We are] very aware of the dangers for the Hungarian minority in Vojvodina___It is now important to keep thinking about the other regions, and to acquaint the American public with the surrounding areas and the fact that the dangers [are] spreading in Vojvodina and Montenegro." — Madeleine K. Albright U.S. Secretary of State speaking at the Brookings Institution, April 6,1999 6 William Penn Lite, June 1999
